Sendhil Mullainathan

Sendhil Mullainathan is an influential American economist renowned for his pioneering work at the intersection of behavioral economics, development economics, and machine learning. A professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, he is a co-founder of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) and has made significant contributions to understanding scarcity, discrimination, and algorithmic bias. His research employs innovative field experiments and data science techniques to address pressing social issues, earning him prestigious accolades including the MacArthur Fellowship and the John Bates Clark Medal.

Early life and education

Born in 1973 in Tamil Nadu, India, Mullainathan immigrated to the United States as a child. He demonstrated an early aptitude for computer science and mathematics. He pursued his undergraduate education at Cornell University, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in computer science in 1993. His academic trajectory then shifted toward economics, leading him to Harvard University for his doctoral studies. Under the advisorship of noted labor economist Lawrence Katz, he completed his Ph.D. in economics in 1998, with his dissertation focusing on aspects of social networks and labor economics.

Academic career

Following his doctorate, Mullainathan joined the faculty of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as an assistant professor. He later returned to Harvard University, where he became a tenured professor in the Department of Economics and held the position of Robert C. Waggoner Professor of Economics. In 2018, he moved to the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, where he serves as the Roman Family University Professor of Computation and Behavioral Science. His career has been marked by significant institutional leadership, including co-founding the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab with Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, and serving as a director of research at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau under Richard Cordray.

Research and contributions

Mullainathan's research is characterized by its interdisciplinary approach, blending insights from psychology, sociology, and computer science with rigorous economic analysis. A central theme is the cognitive and behavioral consequences of scarcity, which he explored in his bestselling book *Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much*, co-authored with Eldar Shafir. His work on discrimination has utilized innovative audit studies, such as sending fictitious resumes to employers, to document racial bias in the labor market. More recently, he has focused on the intersection of machine learning and economics, investigating algorithmic fairness and bias, particularly in systems used for criminal justice and lending. His research has been published in top journals including the American Economic Review and the Quarterly Journal of Economics.

Awards and honors

Mullainathan has received numerous prestigious awards recognizing his innovative contributions to economics and social science. In 2002, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship, commonly known as the "Genius Grant." He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the Econometric Society. One of his highest honors came in 2024 when he was awarded the John Bates Clark Medal, one of the most distinguished awards in economics, presented by the American Economic Association to an economist under forty judged to have made the most significant contribution to economic thought and knowledge.

Publications

Mullainathan is the author of influential academic papers and books that have reached both scholarly and public audiences. His seminal work includes the book *Scarcity: Why Having Too Little Means So Much* (co-authored with Eldar Shafir). His research articles, such as "Are Emily and Greg More Employable Than Lakisha and Jamal? A Field Experiment on Labor Market Discrimination" (with Marianne Bertrand), published in the American Economic Review, have had a profound impact on the study of discrimination. Other notable publications include "Machine Learning: An Applied Econometric Approach" in the Journal of Economic Perspectives and "Poverty Impedes Cognitive Function" in the journal Science.

Category:American economists Category:Behavioral economists Category:Harvard University alumni Category:University of Chicago faculty Category:MacArthur Fellows Category:John Bates Clark Medal winners